Schumer Got Massive Payout from Facebook While Defending It from Trump
One of the Democratic lawmakers accusing President Donald Trump of wanting to destroy the tech industry has extensive personal and financial ties to some of the biggest companies in Silicon Valley.
Democratic Sen. Chuck Schumer of New York has blasted Trump and Republicans for supposedly knocking the tech industry over liberal bias.
The Daily Caller News Foundation conducted an analysis Tuesday suggesting there might be another reason Schumer is leveling such accusations.
“The people who most want to undo tech is the hard right,” the Senate minority leader said in an interview with Recode in March. “Donald Trump and the hard right … watch Fox News, which is totally biased.”
He also suggested the tech industry was a champion for traditional Democratic constituents.
“We Democrats represent average folks,” Schumer said. “Tech gives us the advantage. We don’t have a Fox News. We don’t have Rush Limbaugh who gets 20 million people a day. It’s our antidote. I am sympathetic.”
Records show Schumer received more than $85,718 from employees at Google and/or its parent company, Alphabet.
He also received $38,900 in 2016 from Facebook and its employees, according to an April 3 report from the New York Post.
The senator has received a total of more than $150,000 from Google and Facebook since 2010, according to an analysis TheDCNF conducted of data on the Federal Election Commission website.
Political donations are not the only ties Schumer has to Silicon Valley. He also has strong personal connections to both companies.
His youngest daughter, Alison, works for Facebook as the company’s privacy and policy marketing manager, according to her LinkedIn profile.
Conservative street artist Sabo papered New York City with posters making fun of Schumer for his contributions from Silicon Valley, as well as his daughter’s job at Facebook.
His son-in-law, Mark Shapiro, also works for a big tech company, Sidewalk Labs, a subsidiary of Alphabet. Shapiro, who worked as an economic policy adviser for former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton’s failed presidential campaign, married Schumer’s oldest daughter, Jessica.
Sidewalk Labs focuses on designing “smart cities” as Google is expanding its real estate in New York, including the company’s recent purchase of Chelsea Market for $2.4 billion, according to a February report in The New York Times. Tech jobs have grown three times faster in New York City than in the rest of the private sector, The Times noted.
Schumer’s office in New York City refused to give TheDCNF comment about the nature of contributions.
A version of this article previously appeared on The Daily Caller News Foundation website.
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